News

An Unexpected Landing

FOLKS who had their eyes on the skies around Corbridge last Wednesday may have noticed a glider landing in a field at Stagshaw.

The glider pictured in a field at Stagshaw near Corbridge. Photo: Martin Merriman.

The aircraft was piloted by 22-year-old Keith McIntyre, a member of Hedley on the Hill’s Northumbria Gliding Club, who was forced to stop short of the club’s Currock Hill airfield when conditions changed during a three-hour flight.

Keith, who landed the glider at around 6.30pm, said: “To progress to a silver badge you have to complete a 50km solo flight.

“So I plotted a course from Currock Hill, over Hexham and then up to Wooler.

“I turned round and tried to get back, but the conditions had changed.

“The wind started to die and I ran out of lift, so I knew I wasn’t going to get back to Currock Hill.”

Keith, who began flying aged 15 and did his first solo flights with the air cadets aged 18, said he picked the field at Stagshaw and made a “perfectly straightforward” landing.

“The glider has its own trailer which it fits into when you take the wings and tail off,” Keith explained. “So it was transported back by road.”

Despite having to cut his route short, the good news is that Keith managed to cover almost 160 km, meaning it will still count towards his latest qualification.